Ma y 2019 Digital SLR Photography 61
COLOURSATURATION
BLUE: As the coolest colour, blue can give the feeling
that an image or scene is physically cold. Retaining a cool
tone in images shot in winter, or even at night, will help
convey this feeling. Like green, blue is also a calming
colour so can offer a sense of peace and tranquillity
- think of a clear blue sky on a summer’s day, for
example. Depending on the hue and saturation, bluecan
also evoke negative feelings of sadness and loneliness,
hence the phrase ‘feeling blue’.
Y E L LO W :Areyoufeelinghappy?In starkcontrastwith
theglumfeelingsthatblueis saidtoevoke,yellowis
psychologicallythehappiestofthecolours.It’sclosely
associatedwiththesun,socanbeusedin yourimagesto
solicitfeelingsofwarmthandjoy,aswellassatisfaction.
Yellowis alsoa strongadvancingcolour,sotends
dominateanyrecedingcolourswithinthescene.In this
way,andmuchlikered,it shouldbeusedwithmuchcare
in yourcompositions.BOLDCOLOURS:Strong,boldcoloursshout
forourattention,soimagespackedwith
saturatedtoneswilldothesame.Boldhues
tendtosuitrelativelysimple,graphical
scenes– thinkmodernurbanarchitecture,
extremeclose-ups,abstracts,ora landscape
silhouettedat sunset,forexample.Because
of theirnature,strongcoloursdon’tneedto
filltheframetobeeffective– a hintof bright
red,blueoryellowin anotherwise
monochromaticscenewillpop.Thiscanbe
usedtoyouradvantagebutbewaryof it
beinga detrimenttoo– anunwanted,but
brightly-colouredelementin a scenewill
demandattention.Boldcolourscansuit
strong,directlightasit increasescontrast
andvibrancebutthisis notalwaysbest.For
instance,if thebrightlightcausesreflections
andglare,suchaslightbouncingofffoliage,
thiscanactuallylowersaturation(seepanel
onpage 58 foronewaytodealwiththis).For
richcoloursaturationandaccuraterendition
of hues,theevendistributionof a softerlight,
suchasfromanovercastsky,is ideal.MUTED COLOURS: Colour photography is
often associated with saturated tones, but
colours don’t have to stand out to be
effective. Muted tones are softer and evoke
a feeling of calm. Where bright, bold colours
cry for your attention, muted tones are far
more subtle but invite the viewer to spend
longer exploring the image. These tones are
often found in nature – look at any landscape
and you’ll see subtle shades of green, blue
and brown. Of course, weather and light
affect muted colours too. Such scenes are
often better suited to heavily diffused light
rather than full sunshine – think fog, mist or
thick cloud. They can also be suited to the
pastel tones of sunrise and sunset as the light
is lower in contrast at these times, and
warmer too, which helps blend the tones
together. The short period before the sun
appears at sunrise, or the minutes after it dips
below the horizon at sunset, can be a
fantastic time to shoot muted landscapes as
the tones in the land are often
complemented by the hues in the sky.ET
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